Assembly comprising a mobile telephone

ABSTRACT

An arrangement including a base station, an adapter coupled to the base station, and a mobile telephone coupled to the adapter. The adapter carries out information matching between the base station and the mobile telephone, including electrical and protocol matching between the mobile telephone and the base station.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a National Stage Application of InternationalApplication No. PCT/DE02/00146, filed on Jan. 18, 2002, which claimspriority to German Application No. 101 02 277.8, filed on Jan. 18, 2001.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to an arrangement with a mobile phone.

2. Related Art

An arrangement with a mobile telephone is disclosed in WO 95/28789. Thisarrangement comprises a base station, an adapter and a mobile telephone,with the base station and the adapter being connected via a cable, andthe mobile telephone being plugged into the adapter. Depending on thetype of mobile telephone that is connected, and which is identified bythe base station, for example, by means of an identification unit whichis arranged in the adapter, this unit sets a large number of operatingparameters for use of the mobile telephone which is connected to theadapter. An arrangement such as this has the disadvantage that, when themobile part is identified by means of a contact that is made or by meansof an associated number produced by contact links, the base station issuitable only for mobile telephones whose technical data is known at thetime that the base station is produced. This means that the base stationis not suitable for newly marketed mobile telephones. Even the use of amemory element in an identification unit which is arranged in theadapter and which transmits identifying data to the base station doesnot completely overcome the problem of what is referred to as upwardcompatibility since this does not allow the technical data or thetechnical performance of the base station to be changed, either. Thus,by way of example, a new type of mobile telephone which requires acharging voltage which cannot be provided by the base station cannot becharged.

A further disadvantage of the known arrangement, which will also be ofparticular interest to those who are referred to as fleet operators, isthe complex and hence expensive design of the base station since, infact, this component would need to be provided in every vehicle.

WO 98 11747 A has disclosed another arrangement with a mobile telephone.In this case, two or more subscriber stations with a hand-held radiotelephone and base stations can communicate with one another or with acentral communication device, preferably in a large volume vehicle, withthe communication device itself providing the connection to a stationoutside the vehicle. A central computer coordinates the respectivetelephoning devices with the radio network, including additionalfunctions.

Such an arrangement does not provide matching for different mobiletelephones to a universal base station.

A similar device has been disclosed in EP 0 831 667 A1.

Finally, DE 200 15 036 U1 has disclosed a mobile receiving device foruse in a drinks holder in a vehicle, in which the hands-free device iscompletely integrated in the receiving device. The mobile hands-freedevice has no further associated base station.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide an arrangement which can beused for any desired mobile telephone and has a simple, low-cost basestation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This and other objects of the invention object can be achieved by anarrangement including a base station, an adapter coupled to the basestation, and a mobile telephone coupled to the adapter. The adaptercarries out information matching between the base station and the mobiletelephone, including electrical and protocol matching between the mobiletelephone and the base station.

In an arrangement according to the invention, the adapter containselectronics which are aligned with the mobile telephone and with thebase station and provide matching of the electrical information comingfrom the mobile telephone to the base station, and matching of theelectrical information coming from the base station to the mobiletelephone. In this case, the expression electrical information meansinformation such as charging voltage, charge impulse duration, speechsignals, received signals, transmission signals and outgoing andincoming control signals. The basic idea of this arrangement is that auniversal base station which is arranged in the vehicle can be combinedwith any radio telephone on the market and with any radio telephonewhich may be marketed in the future, without any change being necessaryto the base station. This is achieved by an adapter which, by matchingto the form of the radio telephone and matching to the arrangement ofthe electrical contacts in the interface of the radio telephone,actively becomes involved, by means of the electronics, in the dialoguebetween the mobile telephone and the base station, or other assemblieswhich are arranged in the vehicle. The adapter, which is in the form ofa holding shell or a receptacle for the mobile telephone, makes itpossible to match any type of intelligence in the radio telephone to thelevel of the base station. Owing to the fact that the base station in anarrangement such as this need not have any matching capability, it canbe designed as a simple, low-cost component. This provides a majorstimulus to accommodation of the base station as a standard component ormass-produced component in vehicles, thus allowing the customer with acomplete range of freedom of choice of a mobile telephone, since thisonly requires a matching adapter shell and does not itself need toinitiate or carry out any complex installations and conversions. Evencustomers who change to newer mobile telephones after some time have noneed to replace the base station, since an adapter which is matched tothe new mobile telephone carries out any necessary matching. This savesresources, and there is no need for any complex and tedious conversionwork in the vehicle.

One advantageous embodiment of the subject matter of the inventionprovides for speech signal processing to be integrated in the basestation, in particular with the capability to carry out echocancellation and/or noise suppression and/or signal amplificationelectronically. In particular, this allows convenient use of ahands-free device connected via the base station. Speech signalprocessing, which also includes speech signal recognition, allows speechcontrol of the mobile telephone via the base station or at least onemicrophone that is arranged in the vehicle.

It is also advantageous to equip the base station with an interface tothe adapter, and for the interface to be equipped with a controller forthe network in the vehicle and/or a controller for the mobile telephone.This allows the protocol modules which are arranged in the adapter toemit and receive electrical information via the interface connectionbetween the adapter and the base station.

The invention also proposes that the adapter have a module for matchingthe levels of the speech signals to the base station. This makes itpossible for the adapter to match the level of the speech signals whichoriginates from the base station and are detected, for example, by themicrophone of the handle-free device to the level required for themobile telephone. Conversely, the adapter is also able to match thelevel of the speech signals originating from the mobile telephone, forexample of a speech signal which is passed to the loudspeaker of thehands-free device, to the requirements of the base station, so thatthese signals can be processed optimally by the respective device.

One expedient refinement of the subject matter of the invention providesprotocol modules in the adapter for the network in the vehicle and themobile telephone, in addition to which an initialization routine is alsoprovided for matching to the databus of the mobile telephone. Thesemodules ensure that the base station and mobile telephone are matched toone another.

A charger for the battery in the mobile radio telephone isadvantageously provided in the adapter and is supplied from the basestation. This also makes it possible to charge mobile radio telephoneswhich require a higher charging voltage than the supply voltage producedby the base station, since the charger which is arranged in the adaptertransforms the voltage up if necessary. Furthermore, this also allowsnew types of batteries or accumulators to be charged which requirecharging pulses which cannot be produced by the base station but can begenerated by the charger arranged in the adapter.

Finally, a further embodiment of the subject matter of the inventionprovides for the interfaces between the individual components of thearrangement to be produced by means of cables and plugs and/or by directcontact and/or by radio links. This is also in particular intended tocover, for example, providing the power supply by means of cables andplugs or contacts, and providing the speech and data interfaces via aradio link by means of infrared or electromagnetic waves (Bluetooth).

Another embodiment of the invention provides for the base station and/orthe adapter unit to be equipped with a replaceable memory medium, whichis designed for storing user-specific functions such as hands-freeoperation and/or speech recognition and/or position finding and/orindividual traffic management. This makes it possible to make desiredfunctions available in the arrangement retrospectively, or to replaceexisting functions by other, extended or improved functions. The basestation and the adapter unit can be extended by this capability suchthat they can be updated and are modular. Furthermore, individualfunctions can also be interchanged easily between different vehicleswith the same base stations and adapter units.

The invention also provides for the memory medium to provide a functionwhich makes it possible to use user-specific functions which are alreadyprovided in the mobile telephone for operation of the mobile telephonein a vehicle as well. This refers, for example, to the use of speechrecognition or noise cancellation that is provided in the mobiletelephone for operation of the mobile telephone in a vehicle, with thememory medium providing a function which carries out the communicationwith and the matching to the existing function. This avoids thecomplexity of duplicated provision of functions which are required inthe vehicle and outside the vehicle.

The invention also provides for the memory medium to be in the form of aremovable and/or rewritable memory medium. The use of a memory mediumwhich is in the form of a memory board or plug-in module or SIM cardmakes it particularly simple for the user to handle the memory medium.

The use of a memory medium which can be rewritten via a radio link alsomakes it possible to record further or changed functions when it isplugged in.

Finally, the invention provides for the memory medium to be used as apure data storage medium for functions which are already available inthe arrangement. For example, this covers provision for use of thestorage medium as a data storage medium for an extended dictionary fortext and speech conversion. The functional scope of the mobile telephonecan thus be extended for specific use in a vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further details of the invention are described with reference toschematically illustrated exemplary embodiments in the drawing, inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of the arrangement according tothe invention,

FIG. 2 shows a perspective illustration of one possible embodiment ofthe arrangement,

FIG. 3 shows a perspective illustration of a further possible embodimentof the arrangement, and

FIG. 4 shows a schematic illustration of a third possible embodiment ofthe arrangement.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an arrangement 1, schematically. The arrangement 1comprises three components 2, which are in the form of a base station 3,an adapter 4 and a mobile telephone 5. The mobile telephone 5 has aninterface 6, via which it is connected to a first interface 7 of theadapter 4. The adapter 4 is connected via a second interface 8 to afirst interface 9 of the base station 3. This has a second interface 10,via which a connection can be made to an interface 11 in a vehicle 12 inwhich the arrangement 1 is installed. The connection between theinterfaces 6 and 7 is made via plug and/or spring contacts, which arenot shown. According to one embodiment variant, which is notillustrated, an infrared link or what is referred to as a Bluetooth linkis also provided. Modules 14 for matching the mobile telephone 5 to thebase station 3 and for matching the base station 3 to the mobiletelephone 5 are arranged in the adapter 4 which, together with themobile telephone 5, forms an adapted telephone unit 13. These modules 14comprise an electronic device 15 (audio adaption) for matching thelevels of the speech signals, which are transmitted from the mobiletelephone 5 via the adapter 4 to the base station 3, and which aretransmitted from the base station 3 via the adapter 4 to the mobiletelephone 5. A further module 14 comprises an initialization module 16(initialization routine), a protocol module 17 (vehicle network protocolmodule) for the network in the vehicle 12, a protocol module 18(telephone protocol module) which carries out the conversion of theelectronic information for the mobile telephone 5, and a commoninterface 19 (application program interface), which is connected to theinterface 8. The initialization module carries out the initialization ofthe databus for the mobile telephone to the adapter 4. Furthermore, theadapter 4 has a module 14, which is in the form of a charger 20 (batterycharger). All the modules 14 are connected both to the interface 7 andto the interface 8 of the adapter 4. To this extent, the adapter 4operates as a switching, conversion and transmission unit. Furthermodules 21 are arranged in the base station 3. These modules includespeech signal processing 22 which, by way of example, carries out echocancellation 22 a and/or noise suppression 22 b and/or acts as anamplifier 22 c. A further module 21 comprises a controller 23 (vehiclenetwork controller) for the network in the vehicle 12, a controller 24(telephone controller), which operates in parallel with the controller23, for the mobile telephone 2 and an interface 25 (application programinterface), via which both controller 23, 24 [lacuna] connected to theinterface 9. Data is interchanged between the modules 14, 21 via theinterfaces 8, 9, which can be connected in the same way as theinterfaces 6, 7. A power supply for the charger 20 is also provided viathe interfaces 8, 9.

FIG. 2 shows one embodiment of the arrangement 1, illustrated inperspective. The base station 3 and the adapter 4 are connected to plugs27, 28 at the interfaces 8, 9 via a cable 26. The connection between theadapter 4 and the mobile telephone 5 is provided by direct contactbetween the interface 6 of the mobile telephone 5 and the interface 7(see FIG. 1) of the adapter 4. The adapter 4 can be fixed to a recess 29in the mobile part 5, in which a magnet 30 is arranged.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective illustration of a further possible embodimentof the arrangement 1. The mobile telephone 5 is connected without theuse of wires via the interface 6 to the interface 7 of the adapter 4,with the interfaces 6, 7 being in the form of transmission and/orreception interfaces for infrared or electromagnetic waves. Theconnection of the adapter 4 to the mobile telephone 5 without the use ofwires allows the mobile telephone 5 also to be removed from the adapterduring operation. It is likewise possible to take the mobile telephone 5off the base station 3 together with the adapter 4, in which case eitherthe charging of an energy source contained in the mobile telephone isthen interrupted, or charging takes place via an energy source which isaccommodated in the adapter. The communication between the adapter 4 andthe base station 3 via the interfaces 8, 9 is likewise cordless, viainfrared or electromagnetic radio waves. A transmission coil 31 isprovided in the base station in order to transmit energy from the basestation 3 to the adapter 4, and a receiver coil 33, which is provided ona lower face 32 of the adapter 4, enters this transmission coil 31 whenthe adapter 4 is placed on the mobile telephone 5. In order to configurethe installation of the arrangement 1 in the vehicle to be as simple aspossible, the base station 3 is connected via the interface 10 to theinterface 11 in the vehicle without the use of wires. The energy supplyfor the arrangement 1 or the base station 3 is provided by a powersupply cable that is not illustrated, or by means of induction.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic, simplified illustration of a third possibleembodiment of the arrangement 1. The mobile telephone 5 is held in theadapter 4. The adapter 4 is mounted by means of a holder 34 on thedashboard 35 of a vehicle 12. The adapter 4 is connected to the basestation 3 via the cable 26. The base station 3 is arranged in a stowagespace 36 in the vehicle 12. Further electronic components such as a CDdisk drive, which are not shown, are arranged in this stowage space 36.The base station 3 is connected to the vehicle's own bus system 38 via aconnection 37. A housing 39 for the base station 3 has recesses 40, intowhich memory media 41 are plugged. The memory media 41 are in the formof plug-in modules 42, which make electrical contact with a board 43that is arranged in the base station 3. A speech recognition module 44,an echo cancellation module 45 and a freely programmable function module46 are plugged into the base station 3. The microphone and loudspeakerare connected via contacts 47 or via the vehicle's own bus system 38.According to one embodiment variant, which is not illustrated, provisionis made for the base station itself to be in the form of a plug-inmodule or plug-in board, which can be plugged into a plug-in slot thatis connected to the vehicle's own bus system. Provision is also made forthe plug-in modules for speech recognition etc. to be placed in plug-inslots which are part of the vehicle's own bus system and which can setup a connection between these plug-in modules and the base station viathe vehicle's own bus system.

The invention is not restricted to the illustrated or describedexemplary embodiments. In fact, it covers developments of the inventionin the context of the patent claims. In particular, the invention alsoprovides for a speech recognition module to be accommodated in theadapter, so that the base station is still restricted to essentialcomponents and modules.

According to a further embodiment variant, provision is made for thebase station to contain an internal loudspeaker and an internalmicrophone to provide a hands-free system, in order to keep theinstallation complexity for the base station in the vehicle as low aspossible.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of thepresent invention should not be limited by any of the above-describedexemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with thefollowing claims and their equivalents. While this invention has beenparticularly described and illustrated with reference to a preferredembodiment, it will be understood to those having ordinary skill in theart that changes in the above description or illustrations may be madewith respect to formal detail without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention.

1. An arrangement for use in a motor vehicle, comprising a base station,an adapter, and a mobile telephone, all electronically interconnectedwith one another, said base station comprising two interfaces and amodule having a first controller that interfaces with a network in themotor vehicle and a second controller that operates in parallel with thefirst controller for interacting with the mobile telephone, said adaptercomprising two interfaces and at least one module for adapting themobile telephone to the base station and for adapting the base stationto the mobile telephone, wherein said base station is universal in thatit can be used with a variety of different mobile telephones, andwherein said adapter is specifically matched with a particular mobiletelephone and carries out matching of information between said basestation and the particular mobile telephone and also carries outelectrical and protocol matching between the particular mobile telephoneand said base station, and wherein said adapter and said base stationcommunicate wirelessly through their respective interfaces viaelectromagnetic radio waves and said mobile telephone and said adaptercommunicate wirelessly through their respective interfaces viaelectromagnetic radio waves.
 2. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1,wherein the base station further comprises a module for processingspeech signals, including at least one of echo cancellation, noisesuppression, and signal amplification.
 3. The arrangement as claimed inclaim 1, further comprising: an interface coupled to the base stationfor interfacing with the adapter; a vehicle network controller coupledto the base station; and a mobile telephone controller coupled to thebase station, wherein the interface is further coupled to at least oneof the vehicle network controller and the mobile telephone controller.4. The arrangement as claimed in claim 2, the adapter further includinga module for matching a level of the speech signals to the base station.5. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mobile telephonefurther includes a databus and wherein the adapter further includes aninterface to the base station, the interface including at least one of avehicle network protocol module and a mobile telephone protocol module,and an initialization module for matching to the databus.
 6. Thearrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adapter further includesa charger operable as an energy source for the mobile telephone.
 7. Thearrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base station is coupledto the adapter via at least one of a cable, a radio link, infrared, andBluetooth.
 8. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:a memory medium coupled to at least one of the base station and theadapter unit for storing user-specific functions including at least oneof hands-free operation, connection to a vehicle bus, noisecancellation, echo cancellation, speech recognition, text conversion tospeech, and speech conversion to text.
 9. The arrangement as claimed inclaim 8, wherein the memory medium provides user-specific functionswhich are available in the mobile telephone, including at least one ofspeech recognition, noise cancellation, and echo cancellation foroperation of the mobile telephone.
 10. The arrangement as claimed inclaim 8, wherein the memory medium comprises at least one of a removableand rewritable memory medium.
 11. The arrangement as claimed in claim 8,wherein the memory medium is rewritable via a radio link.
 12. Thearrangement as claimed in claim 8, wherein the memory medium holdssupplementary data for user-specific functions for at least one of themobile telephone, the base station, and the adapter, and wherein thesupplementary data includes an extended dictionary for text conversionto speech and/or speech conversion to text.
 13. The arrangement asclaimed in claim 10, wherein the memory medium is at least one of amemory board and a plug-in module.
 14. An arrangement for use in a motorvehicle, comprising a base station, an adapter, and a mobile telephone,all electronically interconnected with one another, said base stationcomprising two interfaces and a module having a first controller thatinterfaces with a network in the motor vehicle and a second controllerthat operates in parallel with the first controller for interfacing withthe mobile telephone, said adapter comprising two interfaces and atleast one module for adapting the mobile telephone to the base stationand for adapting the base station to the mobile telephone, wherein saidbase station is universal in th at it can be used with a variety ofdifferent mobile telephones, and wherein said adapter is specificallymatched with a particular mobile telephone and carries out matching ofinformation between said base station and the particular mobiletelephone and also carries out electrical and protocol matching betweenthe particular mobile telephone and said base station, and wherein saidadapter and said base station communicate wirelessly through theirrespective interfaces via electromagnetic radio waves and said basestation supplies energy to said adapter by induction.
 15. Thearrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adapter further comprisesan energy source to charge the mobile phone when the adapter is removedfrom the base station.